Sign



1934- R. E. BARCLAY Er m. 1,943,231

SIGN

Filed April 11, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet l JZIZ Jan. 16, 1934.

R E. BARCLAY El" AL SIGN Filed April 11, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedJan. 16, 1934 PATENT OFFICE SIGN Robert E. Barclay and Nels Berggren,Chicago, Ill., assignors to ,Federal Electric Company, Chicago, 111., acorporation of New York Application April 11, 1932. Serial No. 604,396

18 Claims. (01. 40-130) Our invention relates in general to displaydevices and has more particular reference to an illuminated silhouettesign of novel construction and arrangement and productive of extremelysightly eye-arresting efiects.

An important object of our invention is to provide a silhouette sign inwhich solid characters, forming subject matter of display, areilluminated from behind in order to provide a distinctive silhouettedappearance.

Another important object is to provide a sign having characters, thesides of which are formed with a light reflecting coating and the frontsof which are formed with a substantial non-reflecting dark coating, thesign including means to illuminate the character from behind in such away as to illuminate the sides of the characters in order to cause thefront of the letters to stand out in brilliant relief.

Another important object is to provide means to support block charactersof the class described while illuminating them from the rear in order,to give the characters a silhouetted appearance. Other importantobjects reside in the means for illuminating the sign character from therear including a reflector and concealed lights, preferably of theelectrical discharge are type; the provision of a casing in which todisplay the characters while illuminating them from the rear, the meansfor mounting the block characters in the casing and in general theprovision of the extremely sightly and unusual silhouetted appearance ofthe letters in the sign.

One of the important features of the invention is the utilization ofdischarge are illumination, such as is produced by the discharge ofelectrical arcs through a gaseous conductor medium as in the so-calledneon" lamps, in conjunction with block characters having a substantialthickness and having the front coated with any dark, preferably black,pigment while the sides of the character are covered with alightrefracting pigment, such as aluminum, or silver paint, for the purposeof reflecting the neon light so that the darkened portions of thecharacters will stand out vividly against the illuminated sides of thecharacters and against the illuminated reflector back-ground.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentas the same is more fully understood from the following description,which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses apreferred embodiment 35 of our invention.

"to provide an upwardly facing wall 35 at the for- 'in place;

Figure 5 is a similar sectional view illustrating another mode of makingthe sign, while 7 Figure 6 shows a still further modified construction.

Figure 7 is a perspective front view of a portion of a sign embodyingour invention;

Figure 8 is a vertical section taken substantially along the line 88 inFigure '7; and

Figure 9 is a perspective view showing details of construction.

To illustrate our invention, we have shown on. the drawings in Figures 1and 2, a sign comprising a casing 11 preferably formed of sheet metal.The casing illustrated is of rectangular construction and has one ormore hooks or rings 13 by which the sign may be supported. The casingcomprises a top wall 15, bottom wall 17, side walls 19 and a rear wall21. The front of the casing is open to receive a reflector member 23,which extends throughout the length of the casing and has an upper edgesecured to the forward edge of the top wall 15. The reflector member 23extends preferably vertically downwardly of the top 15 to form a panel25 at the lower edge of which the reflector member extends inwardly toform a downwardlyvfacing wall portion 27 from the inner edge of whichthe reflector member extends downwardly within the casing to form areflector 29 facing outwardly of the open side of the casing. The loweredge of the reflector 29 rests upon and is supported by the bottom ofthe casing and extends forwardly to a point 31 100 spaced from theforward edge of the bottom 17 of the casing, thus the reflector member23 is 011- set upwardly to form a wall 33, at the upper end of which thereflector member extends forwardly ward end of which the reflectormember is bent downwardly and extends to form a panel 37, whichterminates and is secured to the forward edge. The casing and reflectoras aforesaid may be formed of sheet metal pieces suitably formed no andwelded together and strengthened as by the angle brackets 39, as is wellknown in the sheet metal art. One or more illuminating devices 41 aresuitably mounted as on supports 43 within the casing behind the wall 33in position to illuminate the front surface of the reflector 29, whichis preferably coated with a suitable light reflecting paint in order tobrightly illuminate the opening between the side walls 19 and theoppositely facing wallportions 27 and 35.

We prefer to employ discharge illuminating elements, such as the gasglow tubes illustrated which produce light having stroboscopiccharacteristics, for the purpose of lighting up the sign, although itwill be obvious that other illuminating elements may be employed. Toilluminate the lamp 41, particularly if the same requires high voltageelectrical power as where the lamp is a discharge are device, such as aneon tube, we may mount a suitable transformer 43 within the spacedefined between the top wall 15, the back wall 21 and the reflectormember 23. This transformer may be powered from a suitable externalelectrical source through the conductors 45 and in turn may be connectedas by the conductors 4'? to excite the illuminating devices 41.

To complete the sign, we arrange characters 51 between the upper andlower walls 27 and 35, that is to say, in the casing opening in front ofthe reflector 29. These characters are preferably block letters having asubstantial thickness and the sides 53 and back 55 of the letters arepreferably coated with a suitable light reflecting paint, which may bethe same as that used upon the front face of the reflector 29. The frontor forwardly facing surfaces of the characters 51 however, arepreferably coated with a dark pigment so that when theilluminating-device 41 is excited, the dark surfaces of the characters51 will be silhouetted against the illuminated background and willprovide a very unusual, beautiful and eye-arresting appearance.

The fact that the letters have a substantial thickness and that thesides of the letters are coated with a light reflecting material addscon siderably to the beautiful appearance of the sign; A suitableluminescent material, such as fluorocine may also be added to the lightreflecting pigment applied to the sides of the letters in order to causethe sign to glow brilliantly when illuminated and in this way thecontrast between the sides and the dark forward surfaces of the lettersmay be heightened.

The characters 51 may be secured in place in any suitable manner, as bythe fasteners 57 comprising bent strips having ends 59 insertablethrough slots 61 formed in the panels 25 and 37 immediately above andbelow the characters. After the ends 59 are inserted the lugs may berotated so that their outer ends lie against the forward surfaces of thecharacters 51 and be secured in place as by the nails or brads 63 thusproviding a readily removable yet securely fastened device for retainingthe characters in mounted position between the walls 2'? and 35 and infront of the reflector 29.

The front surfaces of the casing, including the panels 25 and 37 arealso preferably colored with the same dark pigment with which the frontsurfaces of the characters are coated or a slight contrast may be madebetween the coloring of the panels 25 and 37 so that the characters maybe more readily distinguished by daylight when the sign is notilluminated.

' In Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6, we have illustrated I modified constructionswherein the illuminated background for the letters is formed as aplurality of louvres 71, the front edges 73 of which are or may bedarkened in order that the letters may appear to be superimposed upon ahorizontally straited background. The opposed sides of the louvres '71are coated with a suitable light reflecting pigment and illuminatingdevices41 are positioned within the casing behind the louvres so as toilluminate their light reflecting sides.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the lamps are mounted in suitable brackets42 attached to the upper sides of the louvres near their lower edges.The lamps extend horizontally in the sign. In Figure 6, however, theilluminating devices 41 extend vertically behind the louvres. In anyevent the inner edge of each louvre overlaps the front edge of theadjacent louvre sufficiently so that the lamps are not visible fromoutside of the sign unless the same is viewed from a positionsubstantially above the sign, which does not ordinarily occur sincesigns of this character are mounted at an elevation above the observer.In the event that a sign is mounted below the point of observation, thelouvres may be slanted downwardly in order to hide the lamps.

The characters 51 employed in the sign shown in Figures 3 through 6 maybe of considerably less depth than those employed in the embodimentillustrated in Figures 1 and 2 and may be attached to the sign byproviding a bracket 75 in the form of a hook near the lower end of thecharacter in position to hook upon the upper edge of one of the louvres,the upper end of the character being attached to the upper panel 25 ofthe frame as by the angle bracket 7'7, one flange of which is attachedto the frame of the sign while the other is attached to a character.

Where louvres are employed, it is desirable to provide access to thelamps 41 through the back of the sign casing and to this end doors 79are provided opposite each lamp as illustrated in Figure 5 of thedrawings.

The casing also is arranged to form a space 81 preferably between theuppermost louvre and the top of thecasing in which a suitabletransformer for exciting the lamps 41 may be housed, and renderedaccessible through the door 82.

In Figure 4 of the drawings, we have shown the casing 11 and the louvres'71 as being formed of wood, with the entire back of the casingremovable to provide access to the lamps 41 and transformer 43, while inFigures 5 and 6, the louvres and easing are formed of sheet metal as inthe device illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawings.

In Figures 7, 8 and 9, we have shown a sign embodying the generalconstruction illustrated in Figures 3 through '7 but having theilluminating devices arranged to produce spaced sources of light 83along a light panel with the louvres, the louvres being alternatelyimperforate louvres 85 and louvres 8'7 perforated as at 89 to formdesigns or characters and the light sources 83 being arrangedimmediately adjacent the perforated louvres in position to cast rays oflight 91 through the perforations 89, onto the portions of theimperforate louvre 85, whichare visible from the front of the sign sothat the normally faintly illuminated forwardly facing surfaces of thelouvres 85 will receive the rays of light 91 in such a way as to createan illuminated design 93 cor-' responding to the configuration of thecut-out portions 89. In this way, the background upon which thecharacters 51 of the sign are displayed may also carry faintlyilluminated designs or messages which are adapted, in conjunction withthe letters of the main sign to furnish an advertising feature.

The details of our construction are, of course, optional and we do notwish to limit our invention to the particular material employed and tothe constructions, which we have shown for the purpose of illustratingour invention, since numerous changes may be made in the form,construction and arrangement of the several parts without departing fromthe spirit or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its attendantadvantages; the forms hereinbefore disclosed being preferred embodimentsfor' the purpose of illustrating our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. In asign, a frame, a silhouette letter carried by the frame, aconcealed lampmounted on the frame and positioned to illuminate thesides of the letter, said letter having sides treated to glow whenilluminated and having forwardly facing surfaces of contrasting visualappearance.

2. In a sign, a frame, a silhouette letter carried by the frame, aconcealed lamp mounted on the frame and positioned to illuminate thesides of the letter, said letter having sides treated to glow whenilluminated and having forwardly facing surfaces of contrasting visualappearance, a background comprising reflecting means behind the letter,said background being also illuminated to cause the letter to contrastvividly against the background and to stand out in a highly eyearrestingand sightly manner creating a stereoptic or dimensional effect.

8. In a device of the class described, a frame,

a plate forming a background portion and an ad-.

jacent perforated plate forming a screen, a source of illuminationbehind the screen in position to illuminate the first mentioned platethrough the perforated portion of the second plate and means forming asilhouette character mounted in front of said illuminated plate.

1. In a sign, a frame, a silhouette letter carried by the frame, aconcealed lamp mounted on the frame and positioned to illuminate thesides of the letter, said letter having sides treated to glow whenilluminated and having forwardly facing surfaces of contrasting visualappearance, a background for said letter comprising reflecting means,and means cooperatively associated with the concealed lamp forilluminating said reflecting means in accordance with a predeterminedpattern.

5. In a sign, a frame, a silhouette character mounted in the frame,concealed illuminating.

means carried by the frame and positioned to illuminate the sides of thecharacter without illuminating the front thereof, the sides of saidcharacter being treated to reflect in a brilliant manner light raysimpinged thereon and the forwardly facing surfaces thereof being treatedto render the same substantially non-reflecting whereby to cause thefront surfaces of the character to stand out darkly against theilluminated edges in order to create a stereoptic effect.

6. A sign comprising a block character of substantial depth havingsubstantially non-reflectingforwardly facing surfaces and side edges toreflect light rays impinging thereon, and means to illuminate the sideedges without illuminating the forwardly facing surfaces of thecharacter.

7. A sign comprising a block character of substantial depth havingluminescent light reflecting side edges and forwardly facing surfaces ofcontrasting visual appearance, and means to illuminate, the side edgeswithout illuminating the forwardly facing surfaces of the character..

8. In a sign, a casing having an opening, a block character in saidopening, aid character having light reflecting side edges and forwardlyfacing surfaces of contrasting visual appearance, and means carried bysaid casing behind the opening to illuminate said light reflecting sideedges.

9. In a sign, a casing having an opening, a block character supported insaid opening, said character being of substantial depth and having.light reflecting side edges and forwardly facing surfaces of contrastingvisual appearance, and illuminating means carried by the casing behindthe opening to illuminate said light reflecting side edges, saidilluminating means comprising in conjunction a reflector and a lampcarried in the casing behind the character..

10. In a sign, a frame, a silhouette block character, carried by theframe, said character having side edges adapted to reflect light raysimpinging thereon and forwardly facing surfaces of contrasting visualappearance, a concealed lamp mounted in the frame and positioned toilluminate the sides of the character, a background for said charactercomprising light reflecting means, and means cooperatively associatedwith the concealed lamp for illuminating said reflecting means inaccordance with a predetermined shadow pattern.

11. In a device of the class described, a frame, a plate forming abackground and an adjacent perforated plate forming a screen, a sourceof illumination behind the screen in position to illuminate the firstnamed plate through the perforated portion of the second plate, saidplates forming horizontally arranged louvres in said frame serving toconceal the source of illumination, and a silhouette sign charactermounted in front of said louvres.

12. In a device of the class described, a frame having an opening, meanscomprising a plurality of spaced plates forming louvres mounted in saidopening, a silhouette sign character comprising a block of substantialdepth supported in front of said louvres, said block having lightreflecting side edges and forwardly facing surfaces of contrastingvisual appearance and lighting means carried by the frame to illuminatethe light reflecting side edges without illuminating the forwardlyfacing surfaces of the character said louvres being tilted to hide thelighting means from observers while permitting rays from the lightingmeans to strike the sign characters.

13. In a sign, a frame, a silhouette sign character comprising a'blockof substantial depth carried by the frame, said block having luminescentlight reflecting side edges and forwardly facing surfaces of contrastingvisual appearance, concealed means mounted on the frame and positionedto illuminate the sides of the sign character, and a background in saidframe comprising reflecting means behind the character, said backgroundbeing also illuminated to contrast the character against thebackgroundand cause the character to stand out in stereoptic fashion.

l4. In a device of the class described, a frame, a plate forming abackground and an adjacent perforated plate forming a screen, a sourceof illumination behind the screen in position to illuminate the firstnamed plate through the perforated portion of the second plate, andmeans forming a block character of substantial depth mounted in front ofsaid illuminating plate, said character having light reflecting sideedges exposed to direct rays from the concealed source of illuminationand forwardly facing surfaces of contrasting visual appearance.

15. A sign comprising a block character of substantial depth havinglight reflecting side edges and forwardly facing surfaces of contrasting visual appearance, and means to directly illuminate the lightreflecting edges with stroboscopic light without illuminating theforwardly facing surfaces of the character.

16. In a sign, a frame, a silhouette letter carried by the frame, and aconcealed lamp mounted on the frame and positioned to directlyilluminate the sides of the letter with stroboscopic light, said sidesbeing treated to glow when illuminated and having forwardly facingsurfaces of contrasting visual appearance.

17. A display device comprising a frame, a block sign character ofsubstantial depth supported in the frame, means forming an illuminatedbackground in the frame for said character, said character having lightreflecting side edges and a forwardly facing surface of contrastingvisual appearance, illuminating means on said frame to illuminate thebackground, and a perforated plate forming a screen between theilluminating means and a background to form a predetermined shadowpattern on said backround.

18. A sign comprising a block character of substantial depth havinglight reflecting side edges and forwardly facing surfaces of contrastingvisual appearance, and means for illuminat-v ing the light reflectingedges'without illuminating the forwardly facing surfaces.

ROBERT E. BARCLAY. NELS BERGGREN.

